COMET and the EHW+ app: how meter readings become smart energy tips

COMET sounds like outer space at first – but it has a very concrete connection to your everyday life if you pay rent, want to keep an eye on your heating costs or, as a homeowner, want to finally understand where your electricity and water actually go. COMET is a research project within the SmartLivingNEXT technology program. It aims to open up access to data from “smart living”, i.e. data that is generated around housing, energy and everyday life in the household – based on a secure, European approach. The focus is on user data sovereignty: The data belongs to the people who generate it. They decide for themselves whether they only use their data for themselves or whether they make some of it available anonymously as a voluntary data donation for research and development – revocable at any time.

Anyone who decides to donate data allows anonymized consumption data to be included in the research. It is not possible to draw conclusions about individual households. New solutions for greater energy efficiency and climate protection can be developed on this basis. At the same time, users benefit from innovative, personalized services, such as forecasts and evaluations that are tailored to their living situation and make everyday life more transparent and convenient.

The EHW+ app is the practical face of COMET in everyday life. Users record their meter readings for electricity, heating, water and more in one place and receive a clear overview of their consumption. Instead of being surprised by a bill once a year, developments can be tracked on an ongoing basis: Is consumption increasing, decreasing, or is a change in behavior actually having an effect? In the background, COMET ensures that the forecasts and services are constantly improving on the basis of many anonymized data donations. In this way, meter readings become more than just a number on the bill: a tool for transparency and climate protection based on fair digital offers in Europe.

In the following interview, EHW+ developer Timo Bähr talks about how a private idea became an app “by users for users”, why thousands of people are already opting to donate data and how COMET ensures better forecasts in the background – including insights into data protection, technical implementation and future functions.

Mr. Bähr, how did you get involved in the SLN research project COMET?

“In February 2023, I was contacted on LinkedIn by Professor Dr. Oliver Hinz [Goethe University Frankfurt], who used the EHW+ app himself. It all started with a brief exchange of experiences and a possible collaboration in the field of smart living. As we work with our start-up on practical digital solutions for end customers in the energy and water sector, the collaboration was a perfect fit: research, development and real-life applications can be combined in a meaningful way.”

What was the main idea behind the development of the EHW+ app? What problem did you want to solve with it?

“The idea is and remains to make energy and water consumption easier to understand for households – originally for myself. Many people have meters, but no overview. The idea was probably also interesting for others. Households searched for and found the app themselves via the Play Stores. With the app, we create transparency, make metering easier and provide forecasts to make potential savings visible.”

How exactly does EHW+ work and what is special about the app?

“The EHW+ app is a central solution for households that supports all relevant meter types – electricity, heating, water and others – and brings them together in a single overview. This creates transparent overall statistics on energy and resource consumption. On this basis, we create precise consumption forecasts using AI algorithms developed in the COMET research project. The special thing about EHW+ is the combination of practical everyday usability and scientific research: users benefit directly from the data donation because they receive improved forecasts and services. At the same time, we attach great importance to data protection and transparency – we work independently of providers, the app remains usable even after a contract change, and our focus is exclusively on evaluating consumption and costs, not on trading data.”

What added value does COMET EHW+ bring? And what added value does this in turn bring to users?

“COMET creates a forecast prediction model for energy and water consumption based on the data submitted by users. This results in better forecasting models. The forecast models are validated by COMET and updated/improved at irregular intervals. Users benefit directly: they receive more accurate forecasts and thus individual indications of how their consumption could develop in the future.”

How many people are already donating data?

“On average, there are 12,000 requests per day (one request every 7.2 seconds), with an estimated 400,000 individual time series transmitted. The exact number of users cannot be reliably estimated. I would estimate around 20,000 users.”

Why do you think so many people are already donating their data?

“EHW+ is an app by users for users. We also write the app for ourselves and are as transparent as possible. This creates trust in EHW+. What’s more, many people see the benefit of actively supporting research and development in the hope of an even better forecast or innovative new features that require a lot of data donations.”

How does the app, and therefore the COMET project, ensure that users’ data remains protected at all times?

“Data protection is part of the Comet project. We want to comply with the Gaia-X standard. All data is processed in compliance with the GDPR, anonymized and encrypted. No one has access to personal data without the express consent of the user. EHW+ also offers a user account with 2-factor identification.”

What options do users have to retain control over their data?

“Users decide for themselves at any time whether and what data they want to share. They can adjust or revoke their consent in the app – full transparency and control are guaranteed.”

What other functions or enhancements are you planning for the EHW+ app?

“Manual meter readings should be less necessary in future. We want to support more and more smart home devices to give households access to wireless meter readings and consumption. Since the beginning of September, the EU Data Act has also given users the right to have evaluations for networked devices made possible by manufacturers. We also want to reduce our dependence on American services and instead expand the services in our own cloud. We also want to continuously improve our forecasting models.”

What is your vision for the future of data-based energy management in private households?

“Our vision is data-based energy and water management that gives households full transparency and more control. Energy should be used more efficiently, peak loads avoided and renewable energies better integrated. Water should be understood as a scarce resource. In this way, we are making an important contribution to the energy transition and climate protection.”